RSS Feed
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Writer visits Grove Hill
Jim Reed of Birmingham talked about literature in Alabama with both groups. With the writers, he stressed the importance of writing for pleasure. "To be a writer," he said, "you just need to write. Write anything you want to write as badly or as nicely as you please, and don't listen to anyone who wants to make you over." Reed said that after writing as long as he has, he does not have to go back and do the job of editing and rewriting. He contrasted the writing for oneself with the job of writing for commercial success. Reed gave an example of the considerable rewriting that one Alabama writer is doing in preparation for a novel set in Gee's Bend. Reed said that he writes everyday, but did not want to call this "discipline." He said such an identification of his daily writing would take out the fun. Even when he is traveling, he manages to take notes for essays by having a package of yellow stickies on the steering wheel of his car. With the book club, he reviewed his book "Dad's Tweed Coat." The book is a collection of 50 essays. His essays look to the past, the present, and the future in order to understand and record what he sees. "Writing rules are made to be broken," he said when quizzed about one essay in which there are only two sentences, each extending over more than one page. Those who spent time with Reed either as a writer or a reader came to understand his gentle sense of humor and wise perspective on life. His philosophy is expressed in the opening of his book. "Anybody can live a life. What's really hard is to pause and actually take notice of life." He goes on, "You just may decide to start keeping notes about your own life. Let me know if you do. It'll give me an underserved jolt of good cheer."
Jim Reed can be contacted at Reed's Book Store in Birmingham.
|
for larger version       |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
)
